Yup, I often get events in tv shows, movies, literature, video games, and dreams all mixed up.
If a specific event comes to mind it is sometimes hard for me to remember in which media form it occurred.
All those experiences create vivid memories in my brain.
Literature is the most vivid and is even sometimes successful in creating false memories.
I get caught up in place descriptions more than character’s physical descriptions (but then I’m an architect). If something in the narrative goes against my mental picture (like eastern exposure vs. western when I’ve already set it up in my mind) I simply ignore it - doesn’t spoil the story for me.
I’m very minimalist when I write descriptions in my own stories, I tend to paint a picture with just enough detail for the reader to understand the general make-up of the location and they can fill in the blanks their own way. It helps that most people have enough familiarity with what various places look like to be able to do that; an entirely alien environment would need additional specifics.
I don’t describe people in very much detail, though. I may mention something if it’s plot relevant or establishes character in some way (expensive clothes, muscular build, distinguishing marks etc) but otherwise will leave them be.
So I prefer the same level of description when I read. Anything more florid or prosaic than I deem strictly necessary to get a general description I tend to ignore, and instead picture them my own way. This may get confusing when it turns out the bad guy’s beard was an important plot point and I had pictured him clean-shaven.
When I read Fantasy and the characters go into a tavern or inn, those buildings tend to always look the same in my head, with the bar in the same corner, the stairs behind the same door, the characters sitting at the same table.
I picture EVERYTHING, not just when reading fiction. When I do math, I picture the problem as if writing them on paper. I picture instrumental music as well as vocal. I have synesthesia, so I picture numbers and letters, months, years, etc. And when reading fiction, my mental images of characters and places often include details not mentioned by the author.
Yes, I’m an artist, and so were both of my parents.
One of the reasons I couldn’t get into Guy Gavriel Kay was that he didn’t give enough detail for my mind to paint a picture of the scene he was describing.
Characters and locations, hell. I have to read a work of fiction in one sitting or I start rewriting the whole damn story.
Always. I’ve tried turning it off a few times just out of curiousity. Each time, I found it almost impossible and didn’t retain a thing.
Pretty much never, unless there is something complicated about what is going on that requires figuring out the physical reality of the scene. In fact, physical decsriptions of people and scenes pretty much gets tossed out the memory hole except for broad strokes. Fine, the protagonist is tall and in the desert. I’ll remember that. But describe the scrub brush and that he has sandy hair and green eyes and unless it become an important plot point I discard it.
However, as foreign to me as the idea of doing that is, it is also inexplicable to me that people reread books. I’m not saying I never do but generally a decade needs to pass before I’ll have forgotten the details enough that I think rereading might be worthwhile.
Agreed, and same with movies. The other thing there is that there is so much still on my “to read/watch” lists, revisiting something means not getting to those.
Almost never. I was 23 before I realized anyone pictured things when they read.
I wonder if there is a psychological term for this.
Me too neither. I mean, I try, and I do come up with some features to picture in my head, but it’s all very fuzzy, with just some high points coming into focus. Kind of like an extreme version of Caillou, where the action happens floating in the center of a white mist. 
I just suck at constructing pictures from scratch, because if I’ve seen a filmed version first, I will pretty easily picture that. On the other hand, it’s kind of cool to read something and then watch a movie of it, and be completely blown away by the rich detail of the visuals, compared with my lame imagination.
(For what it’s worth, I also totally suck at visualizing mechanical things, such as reading instructions for putting something together or knitting something. I can only follow them step by step with the project in my hands. And I score relatively low on the “non-verbal,” spatial relations portions of standardized tests.)
I aced the SAT and ACT; but when I took a psychologist-administered IQ test in my twenties, the verbal and math sections were (to my surprise) both in the same “side” of that exam. So I naturally got some gaudy score on that half, but brought my average way down by getting a measly 103 on the other part (pattern recognition, spatial stuff). The examiner, who had been giving these tests for decades, said he had never before seen–or even heard of–that great a disparity between the two scores in one individual.
Well, as I said I don’t picture things as I read, but I also have no problem with spatial or pattern recognition problems.
I’ve kind of given up on doing that. Mostly because I’m bad at it. Often an author will describe something and I would build a picture of it in my mind. Then, later in the book, something will happen that makes me realize that I’ve got it all wrong and it will confuse me and throw me out of the narrative. I’m too stupid to read as much as I do. 
I just accept whatever is written as is. If there’s a description of a character or location, I accept it. If not, I don’t make my own, not intentionally anyhow.